Free glove/hand puppet patterns: A list

26th November 2007 Glove puppets, Patterns & Tutorials
glove puppets, hand puppets, patterns

(If you’re looking for patterns for other puppet types, please browse the other categories as you’ll find more lists there)

Yes, glove puppets are the same as hand puppets (people often mix up the terms with muppet-type puppets). If you’re looking for ‘glove arm’, ‘rod arm’ or ‘muppet-style’ puppet patterns, head over to the muppet-type puppet section.

I will be adding to this list as I find more patterns. Please note that these patterns come free courtesy of the credited people; please respect their wishes for creditation (if requested) if you publish the link elsewhere. This is the total of these particular patterns listed on this site; feel free to browse for more on my site, but you’ll just end up back here again I promise.

Read about the myths of free patterns [link to be added].

My pattern using felt [link to be added]
My pattern using cloth fabric [link to be added]
My tutorial on recycling old toys into puppets
Julie K in Taiwan recycles a glove for an octopus puppet
Scruffy Plume’s puppets from gloves
Show Me’s instructions using papier mache
Shiro to Kuru’s ninja puppet
Just Another Day In Paradise’s awesome sewn Old MacDonald puppets. Excellent tutorial with patterns
Embellish’s nativity glove puppets using felt

Why so few free puppet patterns? Find the answer here. [link to be added] Find out what kind of materials to use for these puppets.

This post AKA hand puppet patterns free, AKA free templates for hand puppets, AKA glove puppet template, AKA hand puppets free patterns, AKA hand puppet designs, AKA free online hand puppet patterns

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2 comments

peter noer said...

hello and thanks. yes i know which i'd call them. I grew up playing with the [3 fingerd]hand puppets and did not know about "mouth" puppets till the late 60s by watching the Muppets. I've been puppeteering for just a little over 20 years, not made a career out of it. thanks again -peter

29th September 2009 at 02:25

School of Puppetry said...

@Peter,

I think part of the problem is that since so many people making 'muppet-type' puppets are trying to avoid copyrights, they tend to use names that traditionally have referred to glove puppetry. Mouth puppets are often - these days - synonymous with hand puppets, but I suspect mainly because of misunderstandings by the general public and a muddying of terms by puppet sellers. Personally, I think the term glove puppet is much easier to visualise than 'hand puppet', since all puppets require hands to use.

My 2 cents anyway! :)

29th September 2009 at 06:38